[arugulum]

> They phrased it this way: sure, we don't have a free press, and we have a benevolent tyrant running the place, but:

I think the bigger problem is people completely mischaracterizing what Singapore is.

Modern Singapore is nothing like a "benevolent tyranny". The best way to characterize it is probably to imagine a large, well-run city with strict laws, heavy bureaucracy, expansive regulation and government involvement in business, and whose politics are dominated by one political party. None of these are extremely rare traits for a city.

Yes, Singapore does have black spots in its record with respect to human rights. Most of this is in the past (primarily during the post-war period, where many other countries have similar black spots with regards to the treatment of communists), but I argue that this aspect has been incredibly exaggerated in the foreign perception of Singapore.

The reason why I raise this is that your comparison to Singapore is invalid: Singapore is already very much similar to a "Western democracy". It holds free and transparent elections (the fact that policies favor the incumbent party does not detract from the fact that the elections are fairly run, and next to no one questions this.) No one holds back criticism of the government in private or in public - they do hesitate for more official mediums (e.g. newspapers, television) because of legal repurcussions e.g. libel. I have never once encountered any instance of censorship with teeth (there have been instances where the government suspended the distribution license of a print magazine... in the age of the Internet).

Please stop using modern Singapore as an example of "benevolent tyranny".

[scarejunba]

Not trying to be annoying but your comment is more convincing of the opposite of what you're saying than of what you're saying.

[arugulum]

Yes, I got that feeling as I was writing it. For example, take the list I mentioned:

- strict laws - heavy bureaucracy - expansive regulation - government involvement in business - politics are dominated by one political party

All of these give off a terrible impression. But I urge the reader to consider that none of these are unique to Singapore, and are in fact not uncommon among cities/town. Like it is not uncommon for city/state-level governments to be dominant by one party or another for generations. Nor is it uncommon for cities to have annoyingly or weirdly archaic and strict laws. (Singapore bans chewing gum? The US still bans the import of "Kinder Surprise").

I'm not the best writer for this sort of thing, but I just want to dispel this notion that Singapore is this magical, esoteric fascist paradise. It's just a city-state which leans more toward government regulation. Only once we stop treating it as exceptionally special can we actually discuss which policies and aspects of government work and don't work well.

[pjc50]

I don't think it's all in the past: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/15/outcry...

(although it's a valid point that this was a colonial introduction)